Since obtaining independence in 1948, there have been several attempts by post-independence rulers to alter the forms of government to better align with Sri Lankan social structures. Most of these attempts, however, have not been successful and the political power structures have remained strongly centralised. Governments and national leaders have tended to reinforce such power structures, with provincial and local levels of government playing a marginal role. In this context, the needs of local communities are not being addressed and there is very little support or encouragement for local government to do so.
This book draws attention to two major events which have shaped and strengthened the centralising tendencies , and which shows trends that can be used positively to prevent the negative implications of centralisation at the local level. The first is the tsunami disaster on 26th December 2004 which affected the entire northern, eastern and southern coastline and a part of the western coast in Sri Lanka. It is estimated that more than 30,000 lives were lost and almost 500,000 people made homeless.1 During the post-tsunami period , international donors contributed significant funds to aid recovery and reconstruction. Donor commitments for the post-tsunami aid were estimated at US$2 billion.2 Large amounts of foreign aid and the involvement of large numbers of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were new issues in Sri Lanka at that time. There were no adequate government mechanisms at national, provincial or local levels to manage and distribute foreign aid and NGO support. This provided impetus for the central government to take control of the entire foreign aid management and distribution,3 and saw central government increasingly impose limitations and restrictions on foreign aid and NGOs.4
The second major event is the end of the war between the Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) . The war had been fought for nearly 30 years and ended in May 2009 with a government victory. Significant foreign aid and NGO involvement in Sri Lanka were recorded from the post-war period .5 The Central government has controlled and used foreign aid, and directed NGOs towards reconstruction and infrastructure development projects with little or no regard for local government preferences and existing social and economic needs, especially within local communities.6
During the post-tsunami and post-war period, despite facing restrictions and constraints by the central government, some NGOs began to be involved directly with local communities. This involvement and their contributions revealed the potential for NGOs to address the multiple needs at the local level. The long background of failure by central government to introduce genuine decentralisation and local government reforms , centralised power structures , the centralised management of foreign aid processes, and the recent contributions of NGOs at the local level suggest that if NGOs were involved directly in local government and local development, there would be more progress than could be achieved by simply relying on central government. This book, therefore, pays particular attention to the involvement of NGOs at the local level by investigating the ways in which the NGOs working in the Sri Lankan context are able to contribute to building the capabilities and capacities of local government as they support local development and as they seek to respond to the needs of local communities.
As 80% of the Sri Lankan population lives in rural areas, there is no doubt that this major rural population has the potential to play a decisive role in the election of governments. But they have been politically neglected. This population is more likely to suffer from poverty 7 and a lack of facilities in health, sanitation, education, water, electricity, transport, access to free media, means of income generation and many others. The first objective of this book, therefore, is to establish how and why the rural population has been neglected.
The second objective of the book is to determine the views of the national, provincial and local political representatives and administrative officials, officials attached to NGOs, and the representatives of community-based organisations (CBOs) . In this way, the issues of local government and local development, and the potential for NGOs to involve in providing solutions will be addressed.
This book maps the current local government in Sri Lanka in terms of its powers and functions, funding and staffing, and its politico-administrative relations. Here the aim is to investigate and compare the legal procedures and their practical implementation in the field of local government. This is the third objective of this book.
This book mainly focuses on the NGO contribution at the local level towards supporting local development and responding to the needs of local communities . The book’s fourth objective is to assess the views of officials attached to NGOs regarding their involvement and contributions, and given the views of political representatives and administrative officials on completed and on-going NGO projects , examine the local-level effects of such projects.
Where NGOs can directly connect with the local level, especially with local government and local communities, there will be a positive contribution to local development. The fifth objective is to outline the ways in which local government has been, and can be, connected to NGOs and people in ways which promote local government and local development.
This book is based on a research that included 46 respondents, including 22 national, provincial and local political representatives. There were 17 national, provincial and local administrative officials, six officials attached to NGOs, and one CBO representative. Of the 46 respondents, six were women and two were Buddhist priests. The lesser amount of female respondents also reflects the male dominated social and political context of Sri Lanka.
The research used the mixed method approach relying more heavily on qualitative methods , especially on the case study approach . Sri Lankan local government was selected as the single case, and the southern and eastern provincial councils were selected as the embedded units. From the two provinces, 12 local government bodies were selected. Primary and secondary data were collected using a variety of sources such as unstructured and semi-structured interviews , observation , and documents and archives. The interviews aimed to obtain the respondents’ views of the local government and local development and the contributions of NGOs. During this research‚ construction projects and other areas were observed in the southern and eastern provinces‚ together with the routines of government offices. The study of documents and archival data was undertaken to supplement the information acquired by interviews and observations. Secondary data for this research include governmental and non-governmental documents such as constitutions‚ acts, gazettes, circulars, commission reports, sessional papers, annual reports, project reports and progress reports. Books, journals, newspapers and certain websites were also used as secondary sources of data.
The field research was conducted in two phases. The first was carried out from May to September 2011 in the selected local government areas by interviewing local government representatives, local administrative officials, CBO representatives and officials of the area offices of NGOs . The second phase was carried out from June to September 2012 when national and provincial political representatives and administrative officials were interviewed, together with officials of the country offices of NGOs. The collected data was organised manually into categories on the basis of themes‚ concepts‚ or similar features. This thematic and conceptual analysis went beyond description to critical interpretation.
As will be discussed in the following chapters‚ certain legal powers have been allocated to local government in Sri Lanka by several legislative documents. But such powers are not exercised for various reasons. First‚ the extensive centralised powers of the central government prevent local government from acting as a self-governing body. Second‚ most local government representatives do not have sufficient knowledge about their powers. Third‚ local government lacks the capabilities‚ capacities and resources to enhance local development towards responding to the needs of local communities. This book finds that NGOs have the knowledge and resources to build the capabilities and capacities of local government to support local development. The next chapter reviews the theoretical framework of this book through analysing post-colonial situations and the impact of NGOs on local gove...